Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

Note 03/08/2018: Ok just to let you all know, I'm doing it again. For this story I'm going to be skipping and or rearranging the events of Season 3 to fit my needs so at the moment only two things have happened from Season 3. One, Vlad is Mayor of Amity Park now, and two Vlad already got his butt handed to him by Danny and Frostbite. The difference though however is that after that fight Vlad realized something important. One way or another Danny was always going to be a part of his life and now that he lived in the same town as him Vlad was already starting to see first-hand that being a hero is not all it's cracked up to be for the young hybrid. And while they still fight though and are at odds with each other, he still cares about Danny enough that there is still one fate that even Vlad would never have wished on the boy. A fate which Vlad's been trying to warn Danny about all along regarding his parents and the potentially devastating consequences of revealing his secret. Too bad that has already become a reality...and now Danny may have to decide between sacrificing his normal human life to continue playing the hero, or turn to his worst enemy for help getting his life back before a fate worse then death befalls Danny when someone far more dangerous then Vlad begins messing with his mind.

Chapter 1: At Death's Door

Vlad's POV

I'll admit that I probably shouldn't have been so hard on Daniel during our confrontation this evening. But ever since his childish pranks destroyed my castle in Wisconsin and he forced me to reciprocate against him by taking over this pathetic waste of real estate, I've been very short-tempered when it comes to dealing with him. And just a few days ago Daniel thwarted my plans yet again when I discovered he had found an exceptionally rare ghost relic, the legendary Infimap, that I've been searching for for years with almost no effort at all! How was I to know such an item would be hidden among a race of primitive ghost yeti's...?

"Oh Daniel, when will you learn that all of your actions have consequences? Good or otherwise," I mused, absentmindedly stroking Maddie's fur as I stared out the window.

Of all of Daniel's absurd and downright insulting suggestions regarding ways to belay my loneliness, I could not tell you what possessed me to take this one seriously and actually adopt a cat. And the one I brought home with me -or rather the one that had chosen me because she was the only one that was unafraid of my ghost powers since animals have a sixth sense when it comes to the supernatural- proved to be a welcome distraction so for once, I was thankful for Daniel's advice.

It was nice to have a living companion to come home to that would give me company while I was doing the everyday mundane tasks of signing papers and making calls for running my businesses or doing the same thing but the kind that was related to taking care of my new mayoral duties. The Maddie Fenton program was fine and all but she wasn't real, she could never love me like the real thing and bring warmth back to my cold heart. The same could be said of Daniel though...

My fingers clenched as I thought of what his stubbornness had cost me, the prime clone I'd worked months to perfect perished when that little failure, Dani, betrayed me. Oh she was going to get hers. However, in a way her actions were a wake up call when it came to the real 'Danny.' He was never going to accept me willingly, and if I tried to force him he would rebel against me as he always has. But that didn't change the fact that even now I still wanted him by my side. I wanted him to be a part of my life, just not like this. And thus my frustration with him had grown into a deep hatred, not of him, but of his foolish defiance when I could offer him so much if he'd only allow me to.

On the other hand, looking back on my most recent plans regarding Daniel after having finally found a way to get what I wanted, or something as close as I thought I could get with the boy at this point in time, I know now that I went too far and defiled Daniel's privacy in the most horrible way possible. I practically tortured the boy to get that blasted mid-morph sample, and the look on his face when he phased through my chest, through all of our battles and confrontations not once had I seen him look so hurt, tired, angry, and dare I say even afraid of me in a way I had never seen before. That's why when it came to consequences to one's own actions, I knew perfectly well that I was the one who drove him to seek out vengeance against me months later...

I found myself genuinely concerned about him when Daniel took a turn down the same dark path I was all but used to by now. It was so unlike him to hate me to such a degree that he would go out of his way to destroy my home! And I was much too angry with him at the time to even consider not going through with my plans to respond to his actions against me tenfold and make his life a living hell if that's what he wanted, which I'm sure it wasn't. He was just angry and hurt by what I had done to him and now I can safely say that I do not blame him in the least. Daniel was just a boy after all, try as he might to pretend otherwise. A gifted one true but still just a boy nevertheless.

As much as I warned him against continuing with his infantile need to be a hero and save everyone I never once wanted him to follow in my footsteps to that degree. I later felt rather disgusted with myself when I refused to reconcile with him and drop these petty schemes ruining his already chaotic life. The damage was done though and now I would just have to live with it unless something changed.

And believe me, it would have to be a drastic change indeed to make me restrain my mounting fury towards the only other person like myself that I so longed to have as my son more then I wanted another underling but simply refused to see or even consider what I was offering him. No, Daniel was so much more then just some pawn I wished to have under my thumb. If given the proper guidance Daniel would very likely surpass me in terms of the level of power at his disposal. He had the skills and the potential, just not the means or knowledge of how to use it to their full extent.

I was startled out of my musings when a thunderbolt struck outside and frightened poor Maddie. In fact she scratched me by mistake when she fled from my arms and curled up in a corner, ears folded back and pupils dilated. That was one of the few set backs with this cat, she was a sweet and affectionate animal but was easily frightened. However I'd already dealt with this before and knew exactly what to do. Kneeling down next to her, I adopted a soft tone and hushed her, trying to reassure Maddie that there was nothing to be frightened of. I made the mistake of trying to pick her up the first time this happened and she would have clawed my hands to shreds if I didn't turn my hands intangible and dropped her, letting her wind down on her own.

I smiled when her eyes returned to normal and she unsurely inched forward, ears raised slightly when something else caught my attention when another bolt of lighting flashed in sequence with a second one immediately after. It was a familiar scream that drowned out even the thunder that I've heard more then enough times to recognize it anywhere-

"Daniel!"

Something was different about this shout he was making, it wasn't a mere outcry of pain from a powerful attack, it was pure unadulterated agony. I pretended to ignore the painful desperation of his screams the last time I'd heard it, when I had Daniel trapped and at my mercy, but this was something I could not ignore. Especially when it was right above my mansion and something else was responsible for it.

Ignoring the cat I transformed and teleported outside, alarmed when the cry was cut short since he must've just lost consciousness. I cared little for the rain slowly drenching me as I scanned the dark sky for him only to find nothing. "Oh confound it all where is he?!"

After that, while I knew it would be much weaker in his human form I felt for his ectoplasmic signature and the moment I locked in on it, my red eyes snapped open and I teleported again to get as close as I dared in case he was still locked in combat with some ghost. He wouldn't want my help, but should it look like Daniel was about to die otherwise then I would step in. Because regardless of whether he was by my side or not, I had lied to him when I said my clones would make him obsolete. For you see, the truth was that Daniel was too valuable to me to lose. I realized now that no one could stand in as a substitute for the bond he and I shared, a bond I still wanted but was unsure how to create now that things have reached a boiling point. And if there came a day when he did fall to one of his enemies, if I couldn't save him I would tear apart the ghost that dealt the fatal blow with my bare hands. In fact, if it was a human who did it I was willing to destroy their lives in every sense of the word with my power should they steal something as irreplaceable to me as Daniel.

In the time it had taken me to blink some water out of my eyes I saw a small human form plummeting to the earth and flew towards it at full speed. It was too dangerous to teleport because then I would have lost sight of him. I still couldn't sense any other ghosts but that did not necessarily mean we were alone. For all I knew the boy was being gunned down by the Guys in White. And believe you me, after the mess they made of my castle even with Daniel's little hint of ghostly contraband, I was all too eager to get back at them as well whether they were with the government or not. Still, my only concern was with Daniel right now. Nothing else mattered.

I easily caught the injured teen inches from the ground and thank goodness for that too because he was in no shape to handle a collision like that without suffering major injuries, in fact Daniel looked much worse off then he did after our scuffle earlier. He'd even gone as far as tearing his shirt apart to stem the bleeding from a wound in his left shoulder, which from the look of it had been poorly and hastily wrapped and was already soaked completely through with a mixture of green and red blood...

Landing as softly as I could, I quickly examined the boy with a practiced eye, searching for any indication that a ghost had been involved with his injuries when to my alarm I noticed something more serious. Daniel, he wasn't breathing! Laying him down on the pavement I began performing CPR, trying to get him to breathe. My own heart was racing in fear because Daniel had NEVER gotten himself this hurt before. If I didn't do something fast he would die in a matter of minutes!

"Breathe you stupid boy!" I bellowed, slapping Daniel across the face with the back of my hand.

Even after taking such a rough blow, there had been no reaction at all. Reigning in my raising panic and thinking logically, I decided that my next best course of action was to shock him with my electrical powers and hope that would be enough to restart his heart. It should, since his ghost-half would be more then likely react to it. Either way it was my only chance!

Charging my hands with energy, I snarled and as if this were like any other of our other battles -though this one was for his life- I poured my energy into his body. His back arched but Daniel collapsed immediately after, still unresponsive. With another grunt I repeated the process. And again, and again, until finally, I got fed up with Daniel even resisting my attempts to save his life and bellowed as sparks flew all around us in response to my fury-

"DANIEL JAMES FENTON YOU ARE NOT DYING TODAY DO YOU HEAR ME?! I REFUSE TO LET YOU WIN THIS TIME. IF YOU WANT TO DIE SO BADLY THEN LET IT BE AT MY HAND, NO ONE ELSES! UNTIL THEN, BREATHE OR SO HELP ME I WILL OVERSHADOW YOU MYSELF AND MAKE YOU!"

At long last Daniel's back arched one more time and he gasped in that first precious life-saving breath of air, drinking it in in huge greedy gulps. He didn't fully regain consciousness or anything, but at least he was breathing again so I sighed in relief. My relief was short lived though when Daniel's body started to convulse and he hugged himself as he thrashed on the ground. It was as if he suddenly recalled the pain he'd just experienced and screamed at the top of his lungs, sending me flying back when it came out as that strange new power of his, that ungodly loud and terrifying Ghostly Wail.

Luckily it wasn't aimed at me, but I still had to stop him before he wore himself out or put too much stress on his barely-beating heart again so in desperation I phased into the ground and flew until I was directly underneath him then reached up and covered his mouth. You'd be surprised how often such a simple solution can arise to solve a seemingly complex problem. Still, while his wail had been cut off Daniel continuing thrashing in my arms, his eyes rolling back until there was one final shutter and he fell still with the most pitiful whimper I've ever heard.

Phasing through him and returning to a more dignified upright position, I deftly picked up the troubled teen bridal style, careful not to jostle his wound too much and I softly wondered aloud as I stared at the storm tossed sky above us which from the looks of it was completely ghost free, "What happened to you little badger? Who did this to you?"

I wasn't expecting an answer but I was caught off guard when he suddenly turned and clung to me, sobbing, "No...mom...dad...please...put the guns down. I-I didn't mean to show you...I wasn't ready..."

My eyes flew wide in horror then flashed an impossibly bright red as I angrily exclaimed, "My god...! YOUR PARENTS DID THIS!?"

I was mostly referring to the wound on his shoulder but, little did I know his body was still decorated with plenty of other battle wounds. Most of which were ones that I caused. Either way, Daniel shuttered in my arms again before going limp, breathing heavily and unevenly as a terrible fever took hold of him trying to fight off the infection that the gun wound was spreading like poison through his veins since it was designed to inhibit ghost regenerative properties and paralyze them long enough to be captured and studied. Really it was thanks to his human half that Daniel had managed to make it out as far as he did before the toxin took hold, not to mention it probably would have gotten to him long before if it wasn't for that second bolt of lighting that struck him.

Not that I knew any of that. Yet.

All I knew was that he needed serious medical attention and I was the ONLY person who could provide it. I would just have to wait until Daniel woke up to find out exactly what happened and if my worse fears were about to be confirmed. The fear that the love of my life, Maddie Fenton, had just rejected her own son for being half-ghost. For if she could not accept him, there was no hope she would ever accept me. Therefore, like with everything else it seemed, Daniel was all I had left. And now it was quite possible that I was all he had left.

And I wasn't sure if I was happy about that...